Color Scheme and Color Theory

[BlueMoon 53]

I was going to write up a whole thing but I am going to borrow this from pronouncedyou ( http://pronouncedyou.deviantart.com/ ) from deviantart. (s)he explains it well and I will use it as reference on the post. 

 

 

 

 

 

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If you read the spoiler explaining the basics of color theory, then good. I see a lot of OCs that have clashing colors and not complementing colors. Lets look at the Mane 6

 

 

As you can see, each pony's color scheme is in the same school of colors, warm or cold. Rainbow Dash is sort of an exception but they did do well with the choice of skin color to make the mane and tail the highlight and not garish. Almost all of them are analogous colors. They are also complementary colors. They do not clash but enhance each other. Most ponies follow this color scheme.

 

 

If you need help, you can use this link. http://colorschemedesigner.com/#

 

It allows you to look up complementary colors, triarch, etc.. It has helped me out a lot. I hope it can help you. I also suggest that you keep the saturation of your colors to around 85-90%. It will keep those 'Neon' effects from happening, especially on HD screens, like mine . 

 

Well have a good time and may the muse find you .

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,676]

Makes me think about the color scheme I chose for my OC. All warm colors. Funny thing with those variations of brown given how his mane, eye and tail color are orange brown while his coat is orange. No wonder the colors go so well together. Though admittedly, not nearly as smooth as the mane 6's colors.

 

OC:

 

 

 

[BlueMoon 53]

Try switching the colors, just as an experiment. I usually like my browns to be dark as base and light as highlight. So you would have your brown as your skin and the burnt orange was the mane. 

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,676]

Try switching the colors, just as an experiment. I usually like my browns to be dark as base and light as highlight. So you would have your brown as your skin and the burnt orange was the mane. 

Well for starters, I did not make that picture but it was a generous request from a friend. I can only manage to draw sketches.

 

Other than that, I noticed something rather peculiar. When I turned the colors into grayscale, the coat and mane color were almost the same in brightness with the mane being just a subtle pitch lighter than the coat.

 

Eh... OK I think I made a mistake in saying that the colors go well together. Maybe they would in concept since it doesn't seem like you can go wrong with a combination of primarily orange-brown and orange but it still looks kinda odd. Or very eccentric, whichever fits better. My immediate thought is that the orange of the coat needs to be made less ostentatious. Make it a less saturated and/or paler orange.

[BlueMoon 53]

Well with your permission, I can take it and vector it. Then show you the different combos we could do with the concept.

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,676]

Well with your permission, I can take it and vector it. Then show you the different combos we could do with the concept.

Permission granted :3

For good measure I'm going to also give you the sketch I made just so you have one more reference to work with. It's the same one that friend of mine used to make the first one uploaded.

 

 

[kawaiipony 84]

very helpful~! will keep this in mind when I make my next OC

[BlueMoon 53]

@Sunburn

 

Here is how I would redo that oc. 

 

 

These are the colors I used.

 

 

Tell me how you like it? 

[Candela 18]

I do find this very, very useful!

 

As an artist, I do know about this, but I think many, many others could find this vastly useful!

[The Pulse 210]

The amount of horribly contrasting colors is pretty amazing tbh, very few people (the artists) seem to understand color theory. Not sure if this will actually help all that much, but the thought is nice.

[Castle Bleck 19,440]

I tried to stick with soft colors for my OC/ponysona Peridot:

 

 

Hopefully, I succeeded.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Anti-Villain

[The Pulse 210]

I tried to stick with soft colors for my OC/ponysona Peridot:

 

 

Hopefully, I succeeded.

 

Looks fine to me, colors work well enough together, and nothing blares out at you.

[BlueMoon 53]

I tried to stick with soft colors for my OC/ponysona Peridot:

 

 

Hopefully, I succeeded.

Looks good to me. The colors work perfectly together.

[Castle Bleck 19,440]

Note: His design is essentially me in an "anime bishonen"-style... except in Unicorn form.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Anti-Villain

[Adorkable 2,737]

Wow, that's really cool. ^^

 

Nice find, thanks for sharing! ^^ (\

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,676]

@@BlueMoon

(Looks like you misspelled my user name. No wonder I didn't get notified.)

 

Huh, you did manage to recolor the image. Didn't think you could do that. (Note that I've never used photoshop or any image creation program other than MSPaint.)

 

Say, why did you make the eyes blue though? Not a critique or anything, I'm just wondering what reason you have not to leave it brown since I only thought you wanted to switch the colors of the mane and coat.

 

It does make him look more natural for sure. I guess since we never saw a pastel-colored donkey, seeing him with an orange coat must be what made him look really odd above all else. Perhaps I should fiddle with his design some more.

 

Thanks. This is giving me some other ideas as to what to do with his design.

Edited March 23, 2014 by SunBurn

[BlueMoon 53]

@@BlueMoon

(Looks like you misspelled my user name. No wonder I didn't get notified.)

 

Huh, you did manage to recolor the image. Didn't think you could do that. (Note that I've never used photoshop or any image creation program other than MSPaint.)

 

Say, why did you make the eyes blue though? Not a critique or anything, I'm just wondering what reason you have not to leave it brown since I only thought you wanted to switch the colors of the mane and coat.

 

It does make him look more natural for sure. I guess since we never saw a pastel-colored donkey, seeing him with an orange coat must be what made him look really odd above all else. Perhaps I should fiddle with his design some more.

 

Thanks. This is giving me some other ideas as to what to do with his design.

 

 

The reason I picked blue is because it is the complementary color for the brown and orange. Since the eye was predominate to the picture, I thought the blue would catch the eye better. 

 

P.S. The picture is yours to keep. I only have it in my Deviantart scrap book. 

Edited March 23, 2014 by BlueMoon

[aoEAF2FBvC0MIo2Q 3,676]

The reason I picked blue is because it is the complementary color for the brown and orange. Since the eye was predominate to the picture, I thought the blue would catch the eye better.

I just noticed the green circles in there. Did you try to make the eyes green to see how it would match up?

[BlueMoon 53]

I just noticed the green circles in there. Did you try to make the eyes green to see how it would match up?

 

Um . . . . there is no green in the eyes. I just checked the PSD to make sure.

 

I use photoshop. 

[kawaiipony 84]

http://kawaiipony2.deviantart.com/art/Welcome-Ion-Spark-438744137

 

Do these colors look alright or should I change some of them?

 

Didn't think too much on color theory when I first created her. Didn't come across the article until I was already done.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

I do quite a bit of painting, and colour schemes in video games. (GTA, Forza) and in real lifewith mountain bike frames, usually with spray cans. I can say that having a colour wheel is a very handy tool to have. With a colour wheel I can get the idea of what the colours are gonna look like on something before I lay down the paint.

[BlueMoon 53]

http://kawaiipony2.deviantart.com/art/Welcome-Ion-Spark-438744137

 

Do these colors look alright or should I change some of them?

 

Didn't think too much on color theory when I first created her. Didn't come across the article until I was already done.

Well I think it looks fine because all the colors are the same brightness and saturation. I would bring the green to more pastel level to match but that is a personal preference and not a color issue. Some would say the heave green anchors the airy feeling of the other colors.

Also the electronic nature of the pony matxhes the colors.

Edited March 25, 2014 by BlueMoon

[kawaiipony 84]

Thanks. I also agree that the green should be adjusted. It came out as an accident and I kind of liked how it clashed with the other colors.